1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographic processor which integrates the process of developing a photographic film, the process of printing an image recorded on the photographic film onto a photographic printing paper and the process of developing the photographic printing paper with the image printed thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
A so-called large lab which handles negative films in large volumes and a so-called mini lab which handles negative films in small volumes are known as apparatuses in which a photographed photographic film (e.g., negative film) is supplied from a film supplying apparatus to a processing apparatus to be subjected to various processing including development, fixing, washing, and drying, and the image recorded on the negative film is then printed onto a photographic printing paper by a printer.
The mini lab includes a small-size apparatus for developing negative films in small volumes, and a small-size apparatus in which an image recorded on the negative film is printed on a photographic printing paper and the photographic printing paper is then subjected to processing. These apparatuses are formed into an integral, compact, easily-operated apparatus within the mini lab.
There has been a growing number of customers who enjoy changing the photographing size to such as an H size and a panoramic size. To meet this demand, some cameras are provided with the function of photographing in various image sizes, including the standard size, the H size, and the panoramic size. These cameras make it possible to effect standard photographing on the same negative film and record images of the H size and the panoramic size whose aspect ratios differ from the aspect ratio of the standard size for standard photographing.
As shown in FIG. 6A, when images of such different sizes are recorded on a negative film 12, images are recorded by changing the aspect ratio within a standard image frame area 12A. For this reason, an H-size image 12C and a panoramic-size image 12D are recorded in sizes smaller than the size of a standard-size image 12B. Namely, the standard-size image 12B is recorded by making maximum use of the image frame area 12A, whereas the dimensions of the H-size image 12C and the panoramic-sze image 12D in the transverse direction of the negative film 12 are respectively smaller in proportion to their aspect ratios although their dimensions in the longitudinal direction of the negative film 12 are the same as that of the image 12B of the standard size.
The images which are recorded on the negative film with their sizes changed in accordance with their aspect ratios are recorded on a photographic printing paper 16 having a fixed transverse dimension. As shown in FIG. 6B, as compared with a standard-size image 16B recorded on the photographic printing paper 16, an H-size image 16C and a panoramic-size image 16D have the same transverse dimension as viewed in the transverse direction of the photographic printing paper 16, but their dimension in the longitudinal direction of the photographic printing paper 16 are respectively longer.
Namely, the H-size image 12C and the panoramic-size image 12D recorded on the negative film 12 are exposed on the photographic printing paper 16 with greater magnifications than the standard-size image 12B.
However, in the former type of mini labs which is made compact by being formed separately as a film processor and a photographic printing paper processor, if an attempt is made to print an image recorded on the negative film by changing the magnification, there arises the need to secure a large space for an exposure section, and a complicated mechanism for allowing changes in the magnification must be provided, which leads to higher cost of the apparatus.